fairy cage

Chapter 176
The morning sun shines on the streets paved with blue bricks, as if splashed with water, it looks bright and glowing.

Yu Lie rode on a donkey in the bathhouse, and stumbled into the southern boundary of the city.

There are still few pedestrians traveling at this time, and even those who are busy with their livelihoods seem to be lazy because of the approaching of the new year, like bears about to enter winter.

The shops on the street, which should have been opened, were still open, but apart from those early shops, many of the shops were deserted.There are not even idlers hanging out on the street.

It was Yu Lie, who had finally returned to the southern boundary of the city after many days, and was just wandering east and west early in the morning.

Among them, what surprised and comforted him was that three years had passed, and the scene in the south of the city had not changed at all.

The tofu nao sellers are still husband and wife. The tofu Xishi still looks white and tender, and the tofu is also trembling. The quality is good, which makes early risers rush to buy.

The old man in the storytelling teahouse is more than half a year old, and he is still sitting at the door basking in the sun early in the morning. There is an old dog beside him, lazily biting the fleas on the dog's stomach.

People are not old, and dogs are not too old.

Yu Lie just felt that a big change had taken place in the boundary of the southern entrance of the city, and he was unfamiliar.

Yu Lie was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, and looked at the polite and fawning peasant woman in front of him, with a complicated expression on his face.

Life is the same as before.

"Sure enough, it's the old lady's Chinese New Year. Every year is not as good as every year, and the depression in the clan is getting worse."

Now he can be regarded as returning to his hometown with good clothes, not coming from adversity, so he has to show some Taoist demeanor and demeanor, so as not to be seen by the people in the clan, seeing him as a stranger, thinking that a thief has sneaked in, and beat him out with a stick .

When he walked to the inner courtyard along the road in his memory, he found that although it was the end of the year, the gates of several courtyards he passed by did not feel that the end of the year was approaching at all, and were deserted.

The donkey snorted, shook the bag with the name of the bathhouse printed on its belly, heard the noise inside, then held its head up, stepped on small steps crisply, and left.

He walked into the courtyard, and before he took the initiative to look for the residents in the courtyard, there was a familiar but old voice:
"Big brother is back? What did the elders of the clan say, but money and food are coming back?"

Yu Lie casually asked again:

It is different from the smooth scene in Yu Lie's memory. The current road is full of potholes, and the blue bricks are broken and broken.

At this time, the peasant woman opened the door and saw Yu Lie blocking the main room. She squinted her eyes and looked at Yu Lie. She seemed to recognize that Yu Lie was not the "big brother" she said, but she couldn't see clearly or recognize him. .

The peasant woman in front of her didn't recognize that it was Yu Lie at all.

Otherwise, the next time you enter the bathhouse, the shopkeepers of the bathhouse will have no objections, but the donkey may play tricks, deliberately come up to you, carry you home, and then show your donkey temper on the way, giving you a lot of trouble. You play tricks.

The courtyard is surrounded by a bamboo fence, and there is only one family, sitting in a huge bamboo forest.

After thinking about it for a while, Yu Lie knew that the situation in the clan was difficult, and maybe something major had happened, which made it difficult to maintain the lives of the people in the inner clan who could only maintain their appearance.

"It's been dragging on for days. The big guy has been working for his Huang family for half a year. Even if it's not for the sake of in-laws, but for the sake of doing business, his Huang family can't default on our money and food. If The old patriarch is still..."

He thought about it carefully and found that it was right.

But these only made Yu Lie's thoughts fluctuate a few times.

Seeing Yu Lie's politeness, although the peasant woman remained cautious towards Yu Lie, she was not too afraid. She tried to find something to say, and chatted:
"Hearing the voice of the Taoist priest, it must be a young Taoist priest. I don't know which workshop in the city you are practicing now? It is a good thing to be able to practice in the city. To be honest, there is actually a young woman in the old woman's house. Daotong, it's a pity that the old woman has no ability, can't afford to support her, and the child is so tired that she has to go outside the city."

These guys hold grudges and are beasts, and guests are often not easy to get angry.

Naturally, there is not only one bridge in Yu's courtyard, but the one that Yu Lie walks on is the one that he crossed countless times in wind and rain when he came and went.

While pondering, Yu Lie shook his sleeves: "No need."

He slowed down, surprised in his heart:

But for others, it has nothing to do with them, that's all.

Involuntarily, he also used the spell of controlling the wind, the soles of his feet were blown by the wind, and he crossed dozens of hundreds of feet of land in a flash.

"Are you here to deposit money?"

It has only been three years since he left Qian County, although in these three years, many things happened to him, big and small, both bitter and bitter.

Perhaps other than Yu Lie himself, the only ones who would care about this are those who are close to him.

Seeing this tidy appearance, Yu Lie breathed a sigh of relief.

Although no one leads the donkey in the bathhouse, and guests don’t have to spend money to hire it, they still have to give some money after riding it.

This family made a fortune later than the Yu family, and had received some help from the Yu family back then, so generations of the two families had intermarried, and many members of the clan were closely related.

According to what the peasant woman said, it seemed that there was a conflict between the Huang family and the Yu family, and there was an entanglement in the money and food to be paid. Now that the end of the year was approaching, there was probably a conflict for several days in a row.

Yu Lie took all these signs into his eyes, and there was a sigh of emotion in his eyes:

Huh uh!

In front of the stone bridge, Yu Lie stared at the word "You Yu" on the bridge, took a few glances, and finally took a step towards the inside of the stone bridge.

He stepped forward, and immediately wanted to call the door, but the words came to his lips, and he restrained himself.

Finally, Yu Lie came to a courtyard living alone in a bamboo forest.

Yu Lie was silent, pondered for a moment, then suddenly slapped the peasant woman, and said calmly:

A few shriveled jujube trees are planted on both sides of the Banqiao, and their curls are old.

The richer and richer the family, the thicker and longer the river outside the house and family, and some are even like a moat, like a city within a city, and even ferocious fish spirits are fed in the river snake.

After Yu Lie let go of the donkey, he stood on the stone bridge and looked at the opposite side of the bridge, hesitant for a moment.

"It's 18 years now. After the new year's end, the third brother's false age is considered to be eighteen. When he passed the Taoist exam, my brother went out of the city."

Thinking in this way, Yu Lie rode a donkey and walked to a stone bridge.

The road inside the stone bridge is clean, but after turning a bend, it completely enters the border of the clan, and people outside cannot see it, and the road surface becomes dilapidated.

And because ordinary people in Diving County are not allowed to leave the market at will, there is a curfew, etc., and sometimes it is troublesome to even leave their own residence, so people from Yu's family often go to the nearby Huang's house to find some work.

The opposite side of the bridge is the boundary of the Yu family.

Yu Lie turned sideways, cupped his hands and said, "Second Mother, please."

He opened his mouth and wanted to blurt out the word "Er Niang", but Yu Lie's eyelids twitched slightly, and his eyes fell on the other party's fumbling move.

The peasant woman asked, "Hey! Who are you?"

In Diving County, not only every square city is separated by waterways, but also every family with a little reputation is not separated by walls, but by waterways.

Yu Lie stood at the door, frowning, listening to the other party's words.

In the past, when the situation in the clan was good, his life was not very good, it was rather pitiful, no matter how poor he was, it was not so bad, it was better than he was back then.

However, after passing the stone bridge and entering the Yu family's interior, and walking a dozen more steps, the scene of clansman exchanges that Yu Lie had imagined never appeared.

Yu Lie heard the muttering, and immediately felt that the whole courtyard seemed to come alive.

He took out a few talisman coins from his sleeve, threw them on the bag hanging on the donkey's belly, and thanked him:
"Thank you."

"Pindao heard that the livelihood outside the city is quite difficult. If you stay in the city to work, although you have less money, it is better than Ansheng, and you can still help the family. Fellow Taoists from the second mother's family, why do you have to go out of the city? You also allow it?"

"Huh... I remember that near this stone bridge, there used to be a few breakfast stalls set up for the tribesmen who get up early to buy breakfast. The price is cheap, you don't have to go to the city to buy food, and the quality is guaranteed. This A few jobs can also take care of some old and weak members of the clan... Why is it gone, is it a change of place?"

"You are the Yutian family, Yutian Erniang, right? Pindao is here to pick you up to the main hall of Yu's family and give you a handover."

It's just that although it is backed by the bamboo forest, it is not so suitable. It is located in the shade, with little sunshine, and the Feng Shui is not good. It also gives people a feeling of being inserted into the bamboo forest.

He thinks that these three years are the three years that determine his life.If one does not become a Taoist for three years, it will be difficult to see the true way for the rest of his life.

He squinted his eyes slightly, and immediately guessed most of what the other party didn't say.

Hearing Yu Lie's answer, the peasant woman's face became even more joyful, and she stepped out in a hurry, wanting to follow Yu Lie to the main hall of Yu's house, but said hesitantly:
"Master Daoist, come in for some tea?"

Seeing Yu Lie's refusal, Erniang Yu Tian maintained a respectful expression on her face, she responded, then fumbled to hang up the main door of the main room, walked up to Yu Lie humbly, and said embarrassingly:
"The old lady is blind and can't see things that are too far away. I also ask the Taoist priest to go ahead and lead the way."

She clapped her palms and was delighted: "I heard from my elder brother in the morning that today's discussion is likely to be settled. There are some Daoist adults in the clan who are willing to come forward and ask everyone to come before lunch. No Think so fast."

Although it was still morning at this time, it was so quiet and there were no dogs, so it was a bit lonely.

She wiped her eyelids, and said quickly: "My wife, I have an eye disease, and I am almost blind. When I see things, it becomes more and more blurry, and I can't see your face clearly."

The main door of the courtyard hall was opened, and a person who looked like an ordinary peasant woman came out of the house gropingly, still muttering:

He didn't deliberately lower his voice or change his tone, but compared to when he left Yu's house three years ago, Yu Lie's tone had already changed greatly.

Moreover, with blurred eyes, the other party saw a person who looked like a Taoist, with a slender figure and an extraordinary demeanor, saluting towards him, and he would not have thought that the person in front of him would be an orphan from her family who had been fostered in her family.

The so-called "Huang's family" was a family adjacent to the Yu's family in Diving County.

The donkey stopped here, and the rest of the donkeys fell off the donkey's back, and the soles of their new shoes stepped on the stone bridge, making a rustling sound.

The gate of the bamboo forest courtyard is closed. Compared with the nearby houses, both the outer fence and the inner courtyard are neat and not messy. There are two piles of dead yellow bamboos piled up on both sides of the gate. leaf.

At first he rolled up his sleeves and took small steps, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he took big steps, put his hands behind his back, flung his sleeves and walked forward in big strides.

Especially the second mother of his family, who used to set up a breakfast stall here and supported a large family.

Yu Lie stepped faster and hurried to a certain courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, the peasant woman seemed to have thought of something again, and said with surprise on her face:

There was a creak.

When it comes to Yu Lie's generation, the Yu family is down and out, but the Huang family is okay.

Surprised in his heart, Yu Lie continued to walk inside and found some clues and changes.

Yu Lie leaned against the bamboo door, took off the rope ring on the door, and pushed the door open by himself.

When Yu Lie heard the words, his mouth showed a look of "surprise": "I don't know how old is the Taoist friend of Erniang's family, and when did he leave the city?"

For example, harvesting wheat, picking tea, etc., are jobs that ordinary people can do.

She seemed to be unable to see things clearly, but she could still see the light, bent over, and immediately wanted to invite Yu Lie to sit in the main room.

The peasant woman said with a sad face: "If the third brother is still in front of the old woman, he will probably be as tall and dignified as the Taoist priest."

The peasant woman replied: "Who says it's not? Our diving county is still a county town, why bother to go to the countryside.

Working in the city, we don't want to be able to stand out. He has Taoism, no matter outside or in the clan, he is also the number one person, compared to us ordinary people, that's a good one. "

The peasant woman babbled, with some complaints in her words, but at the end, her voice was filled with sadness:
"Ah! A Taoist boy, a student of Taoism, who has a gut piercing and refuses to give up. The old woman doesn't understand what kind of immortality, and the only thing she understands is this nursery rhyme. As for the matter of going out of the city, I can only blame my family for not knowing what to do. Son, if the child wants to venture out, can he really stop him?"

Yu Lie listened to what the peasant woman said, and walked with her, becoming more and more silent.

(End of this chapter)